My Avocado Leaves Have White And Brown Spots

Ask the Expert: Avocado leaves with brown AND white spots…HELP!
I have brown spots on the leaves are slightly raised and recently i started getting white ‘sugar’ like spots on the leaves, too. What do i do?….Your HELLLP, please….

Thanks, Ken

Plant Expert Reply:

Can you remove the brown spots by scrapping them with your fingernail? If so, you have an insect called scale attacking your plant. As for the white spots, they could be caused by an insect like a spidermite or another type of mite. The white spots could be fungal as well.

To find out what is causing the white spots, we must first eliminate insects as the source of the problem. Use a magnifying glass to see if the leaf has a type of mite. If you see anything moving on the leaf, you will need a miticide – which can be purchased at your local garden center.

It might be helpful to have a picture of the back of the leaf and the stem of the plant. Fugual problems will often present themselves on the stems as well as the leaves.

Tisa, the leaves in the photo are from a type of fern, called leather leaf. It is a very common foliage in floral arrangements. The little spots on them are actually spores. This is a natural occurrence for ferns at a certain season. Check out this article for more information on how to remove spores from leather leaf: http://www.flowershopnetwork.com/blog/spores-leather-leaf-fern/

I have an avocado tree that has scale. Brown oval shaped wheel, that fall right off when I scrape them. It also has white powder in some leaves. I looked with a magnifying glass, and don’t see any mites crawling. And some of the leaves are turning brown in some of the leaves, and en up falling off.
The tree is growing in a south facing room, with plenty of light. Gets watered regularly. I don’t know what to do!!!

Sorry to be so long in my reply. You will need to treat the plant with an insecticide formulated for scale. Your local garden center will have this product. It also sounds as if you have a fungal problem. Take one of the leaves with the white powder to your local garden center (not box store) – they will have someone on staff who can identify it and give your the right product to treat it. Once you treat these two issues your plant will make a full recovery. Good luck and keep me posted.